People are quick to point the finger or dismiss the effect of violent video games as a factor in criminal behavior. New evidence from Iowa State researchers demonstrates a link between video games and youth violence and delinquency.

Matt DeLisi, a professor of sociology, said the research shows a strong connection even when controlling for a history of violence and psychopathic traits among juvenile offenders.

"When critics say, 'Well, it's probably not video games, it's probably how antisocial they are,' we can address that directly because we controlled for a lot of things that we know matter," DeLisi said. "Even if you account for the child's sex, age, race, the age they were first referred to juvenile court -- which is a very powerful effect -- and a bunch of other media effects, like screen time and exposure. Even with all of that, the video game measure still mattered."

The results were not unexpected, but somewhat surprising for Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology, who has studied the effects of video game violence exposure and minor aggression, like hitting, teasing and name-calling...

--snip--

"Can we say from this study that Adam Lanza, or any of the others, went off and killed people because of media violence? You can't take the stand of the NRA that it's strictly video games and not guns," Anderson said. "You also can't take the stand of the entertainment industry that it has nothing to do with media violence that it's all about guns and not about media violence. They're both wrong and they're both right, both are causal risk factors."...

Just because something desensitizes one to violence does not mean one will become violent. ER docotors and nurses along with police officer see the effects of violence everyday, yet very few of them will become violent.

I played a crap load of violent video games in my youth: Doom, Half Life, GTA, etc. But I turned out alright, it all depends on the individual. Actually, video games instilled a love of tech in me and was a major influence on my programming skills.

I was going to state something similar. I’m in E.E. and I hear the students talking all the time. They all play games and it led them towards tech stuff and eventually E.E. The are intelligent, extremely hard working kids.

The funny thing about your statement is that my dad used to tell me that I was just wasting my time playing on the computer. Lol, playing games taught me a lot about new technology and that eventually got me into HTML/CSS, adobe, and web analytics. I wouldn’t be where I was today if I wasn’t exposed to that technology in my youth. I like to remind my dad of this on the golf course sometimes and it always warrants a good laugh.

What a crock of crap! I’m a geezer and a game player and I know any number of young people who also play these games. Not a one comes even close to having any of those tendencies.

Before video games it was playing cowboys and indians or playing army, every chance we had. Watching the 50s documentaries on TV about WWII, the shoot em up westerns which were all fantasy, comic books with the Bop, Biff, Pow as well as comics that again portrayed military heroes in WWII. Pastimes like vacant lot football, no holds barred, or boxing at the Y were also big.

That didn’t make our generation any more violent than any other. They can take their agenda based studies and stuff it.

14
posted on 03/27/2013 4:31:27 PM PDT
by RJS1950
(The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)

When one shows proof of the hundreds of millions of gamers rampaging daily since the 80s, I’ll worry. But since basic morality/right and wrong/knowing the difference is no longer a priority, that might have something to so with their study.

Also/side note : Good job brain surgeons. Keep pushing for/stripping people of a healthy and harmless outlet for aggression. We must all be pussified....until the pressure cooker blows.

“Just because something desensitizes one to violence does not mean one will become violent. ER docotors and nurses along with police officer see the effects of violence everyday, yet very few of them will become violent.”

That's true desensitization to violence by doctors,nurses or police doesn't always result in violent behavior. If there are already underlying sociopathic tendencies in the person then you see the emergence of “Death Angels” among medical personnel or “Rogue” cops. Read “On Killing” by LTC Grossman. The military has long known it is against human nature for the most part for someone to deliberately kill another human. They use desensitization to aid in training a soldier. Most soldiers return to civilian life and live a normal life but there are few that are found to like killing and enjoy it. The desensitization enables that trait to emerge and making the soldier not only dangerous to the enemy but also to his fellow soldiers.

All this crap is because liberals REFUSE to accept the fact that murders are committed by individuals who CHOOSE to do so. Hard for liberals to accept, since they have thrown out free will.

Yes, murders, with few exceptions, are committed by people who make the decision to kill. In other words, their “moral values” include killing. Liberals don’t accept the idea of moral values either, proving that liberalism is a mental illness.

I don’t believe that. And I don’t believe everyone who is addicted to violent video games becomes a killer, but some do. When we were kids, we often imitated what we saw in movies. The movies just weren’t as bad as they are now, otherwise, who knows what we might have done.

Keep pushing for/stripping people of a healthy and harmless outlet for aggression.

I've always thought it was this less other, external stimuli. From recent history, there have been accounts of various wack-jobs doing various wacko things. It seems that in any population, a percentage will fall into various categories of undesirable.

With a higher population should we naturally expect more nuts ? Are more nuts walking around because we subsidize their lives and basically save them form themselves?

For comparison, think of all those ghetto sociopaths that live through various "benefits of thug life" - they are patched up, back on the streets, breeding all with immunity from the natural/expected outcomes of their decisions.

27
posted on 03/27/2013 5:22:43 PM PDT
by NativeSon
( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)

This is complete BS
I grew up playing video games
Most of my friends played video games (we used to have lan parties at my house )
Not one of us has ever gone of the deep and attacked anyone.

The only side effects of playing video games for me was that learned to run a server , build my own computers , and some programing skills .

Uhmmm no sorry don’t try to blame the sickos raised by sickos who go off the deep end on playing games especially since most of the people who scream about playing are the ones who have no problems teaching kids to be perverts or run the streets unsupervised.

Should you let your kids play video games 24-7 , nope
and you shouldn’t let them sit in front of the TV set all day either but lots of people do .

It’s not the video games that are turning kids into little savages . Kids learn to be savages on their own when they are not disciplined . You can’t expect much out of them either when they are taught they are nothing but apes with better dna.
I’d be a lot more worried about what my child was doing and learning on Facebook than what they were learning playing a first person shooter .

Bunk. Feminism and fatherlessness has much more to do with it than video games. Illegitimate, criminal minds mix fantasy with reality and refuse to care about consequences. Healthier, old fashioned minds separate fantasy from reality and do care about consequences. Criminal minds in high places promote panic and hysteria to rob others.

30
posted on 03/27/2013 6:15:40 PM PDT
by familyop
(We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)

(August 2012) Since 2002, the United States has had the highest incarceration rate in the world. Although prison populations are increasing in some parts of the world, the natural rate of incarceration for countries comparable to the United States tends to stay around 100 prisoners per 100,000 population. The U.S. rate is 500 prisoners per 100,000 residents, or about 1.6 million prisoners in 2010, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).1

Men make up 90 percent of the prison and local jail population, and they have an imprisonment rate 14 times higher than the rate for women.2 And these men are overwhelmingly young: Incarceration rates are highest for those in their 20s and early 30s. Prisoners also tend to be less educated: The average state prisoner has a 10th grade education, and about 70 percent have not completed high school.3 Incarceration rates are significantly higher for blacks and Latinos than for whites. In 2010, black men were incarcerated at a rate of 3,074 per 100,000 residents; Latinos were incarcerated at 1,258 per 100,000, and white men were incarcerated at 459 per 100,000.4 Since 2007, however, the incarceration rate in the United States has tapered slightly and the 2010 prison population saw a declineof 0.3 percentfor the first time since 1972, according to the BJS.

That does nothing to contradict FBI numbers showing a large drop in violent crime in the last 20 years.

The FBI says arrests for murder fell by 12.9% between 2001 and 2010. Arrests for forcible rape declined by 24.8%. Those are absolute numbers, so the rate of decline would be even larger when adjusted for population.

You’re both right, but the issue isn’t our mainstream people, it is the marginals. These are people who become alcoholics, drug addicts, sex addicts, gambling addicts, rapists, etc. Studies closely link rape and pornography with rapists reporting using pornography to get them upped to rape.

So, while it’s true that most people can handle it, does it cause marginals who normally would remain docile outside of the influence of these stimulants to go off the deep end. Is it good for society as a whole?

I think porn is different from violent video games. Porn usually ends with a participant physically replicating a sexual act on themselves. This leads to addiction and a desenstizing effect on the individual. In video games there is no physical act that is being carried out by a player, you’re just mashing buttons on a game pad. I will admit that one day when I have kids I will set limits on the games they play, violent games at a young age are bad, but if a kid is 13 I reallly don’t have a problem with it. Some games like Grand Theft Auto would not be allowed in my house for obvious reasons. But again this falls on the parents, responsible parenting equals better kids. That was the case with my parents, who were strict, but taught me the importance of good Christian values and the 10 commandments. Jmo

I think you’re right and humans have always had an outlet for natural aggression. Around 4th or 5th grade a kids world view has stabilized. So it is critical to get that right well before then. I find the lowered standard for a 13 year old, e.g. PG13, a disturbing trend. Hollywood’s 13 year old isn’t my idea of a 13 year old.

I would say it is good for society as a whole. It gets more kids into tech stuff, which can lead to better technology. Of course technology can be used for good or nefarious reasons. I don’t believe in catering to .1% of our population. There has been and will always be nut jobs.

I’m not arguing for any kinds of restrictions, although I would like to see a program that let me dial the level of violence, vulgarity, etc. in a game. I cannot believe the level of swearing that takes place.

All I’m saying is that if you’re a nutjob out in the boondocks little harm done. If you’re a nutjob in an urban area and the media in any form stimulates your insanity - look out. That’s what I think we’re seeing. Sandyhook would have been a little known murder-suicide in which a nutty son killed his mom. The guns would be auctioned off and life would go on.

A game where you can change the level of violence and profanity would be a great thing for parents. A 10 year old shouldn’t play certain games, as many games are designed for adults.(18+) I don’t know if there have been more mass murders recently, or if it is just the inundation of news between 24 hour tv news channels and internet. Something looks wrong with that Lanza kid. I don’t know if he was autistic or had Asperger’s syndrome, but he looks “not right”.

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